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Monthly Archives: March 2014

I will be discussing spoilers from the latest episode of Once Upon a Time. If you have not seen that episode yet, you might want to wait until after you do. I’m going to be spoiling something fairly major that happened.

Still with me?

Okay, let’s start with the two words that sparked most of what I have to say:

Dashing rapscallion.

As anyone who has read my previous posts about Once Upon a Time might know, I have a thing for Hook. There’s something about him, the pirate swagger and bravado, the leather, swarthy nature, it just does it for me. It’s akin to the way that when I channel my character Yumi to write, a part of her brain just knows that Ash is attractive and she wants him. It has nothing to do with good, bad, right, or wrong. It is pure id speaking.

Now, last night, Hook shows up in the real world to try and convince the hero Emma Swan that she needs to return to Storybrooke. Emma, who has been living under the spell Regina cast for the last year with Henry, is on a date with some guy named Walsh, who I promptly entitled Captain Dweeb-face because in comparison to Hook, he pales. At least for my id, and that was pretty much the only relevant factor.

Now, an argument could be made that Walsh might be every inch a good guy, and by proxy a better “choice” for Emma. If you ignore the painful writing on the wall, you could say that. This is a television show. It doesn’t bode well for a character to be introduced as the love interest to the main character, and have been said LI for the past eight months off screen. There were no new names included in the opening credits (excluding Mader), and believe me, I looked through the names. I wanted to know if Robert Carlyle was still included in them. (He was, which makes me optimistic for his return.)

So, what could be the reasons for Emma to have a LI over the last eight months? Would it be for the sudden death of a loved one to spurn her on? Or would it be for a sudden, yet inevitable betrayal? (Thank you, Wash.) Given that the one constant for Emma is what she would do for Henry, I doubted seriously that Captain Dweeb-face was the one true love that Emma was going to lose that would break her heart. Between Neil, Graham, and Hook, she has had the opportunity to have that heartbreak, but the only person that she would be devastated over the loss of would be her son.

So, sudden yet inevitable betrayal had to be the reason. And, it was. (Which brings up all sorts of fucked up thoughts on how far had Emma let that relationship go since a marriage proposal had been on the table. I mean, Walsh turned out to be a winged monkey after all…)

What does all this have to do with the words dashing rapscallion? Not much really, but they were what spurned on my thoughts, and made me think. So much so, that I am planning another post soon for the Bad Boy vs the Good Guy. I’d like to take a closer look at what makes them tick.

I’ll be honest. I’ve never really had a mentor when it comes to writing. I’ve listened to advice from friends, and I’ve attended seminars, but I’ve never had anyone take me under their wing to try and hone my craft.

That doesn’t mean that I’ve not met people along the way who aren’t mentors. It’s quite the opposite. One of the seminars I attended showcased two well-learned authors who were taking time out of their days to teach, to enlighten, and likely along the way, mentor those that they saw something special in. Sadly, last week, one of those men, Aaron Allston, passed away, while at convention.

A few years back, my husband pressed me to spend my Dragon*con weekend in the writing seminars that Aaron Allston and Michael Stackpole offered. I struggled with my confidence in being able to write something other than just errant fanfiction. I doubted that anyone would ever want to read, let alone pay, for anything I created, but my husband believed in me, and so I spent two and a half days in the basement of the Hyatt in downtown Atlanta, listening to these two men, speak, lecture, and teach.

Those seminars were the best money I’ve ever spent at a convention. They taught me about writing, and more importantly, they gave me the insight to look in myself. One of the things they taught for creating real characters is to analyze why. If a character is angry, why are they angry? Are they angry because of outside factors, or is their anger causing these outside factors? It really struck home for me, more than just for creating characters.

I questioned why was I so unhappy with my life because I was miserable most of the time. I had always put it on my weight, my job, and all these things that I felt I could change, but I was still unhappy. I started to look at it the other way though. Maybe all these things that I felt unhappy about were actually a result of the fact that I was just unhappy. Maybe I needed to find a way to fix what made me unhappy to begin with before I could try to lose the weight I hated, or find a job that made me feel more fulfilled.

If it hadn’t been for those seminars, hearing those words, and looking in myself, I probably never would have finally talked to my doctor. I would never have gotten on medicine, never taken the step to find someone to talk to, and I would never have dreamed I was capable of writing a novel on my own. They gave me the keys to take control of my life again, and I am profoundly thankful to them for that.

I might not have known Aaron Allston like so many others have. I might not be able to call him a mentor, but I can thank him – if it is a bit late. Thank you, kind sir, for giving of yourself to those of us who needed your wisdom. I hope you are in a place where you may continue to guide those who need your aid.